Inlet unit of vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an inlet unit of a vacuum cleaner. The inlet unit comprises an inlet body having a dust inlet port and removably coupled to an inlet pipe of the vacuum cleaner; and an auxiliary inlet body coupled extendably and contractibly to the inlet body so as to variably cope with a corner having a desired angle, and having an auxiliary inlet port communicated with the dust inlet port in an extending and contracting direction. Therefore, an suction area of the inlet unit can be properly increased or decreased so as to rapidly and simply perform a corner of a room. Further, the sucked foreign substance is not held or fixed with the inlet portion.

BACKGROUND

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and moreparticularly, to an inlet unit for a vacuum cleaner, which is removablycoupled to an inlet pipe of the vacuum cleaner.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In a vacuum cleaner, for example, it is difficult to remove dustor foreign substance remaining at a corner of a chamber due to astructure of an inlet portion thereof. Recently, in order to solve theproblem, there has been proposed a foldaway brush of the vacuum cleaner.

[0005]FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 shows a conventional foldaway brush of the vacuumcleaner. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, the conventional foldaway brush forthe vacuum cleaner is comprised of a center body 1 connected with aninlet pipe 105 (FIG. 5) of the vacuum cleaner, and a left and right body2, 2′ rotatably disposed at both sides of the center body 1,respectively. Between the center body 1 and the left and right body 2,2′, there is provided a spring 3 for returning the left and right body2, 2′ to its original position.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 3, the center body 1 has an inlet port 11 thatis opened downwardly. External dust and dirt (hereinafter, called‘foreign substance’) is sucked through the inlet port 11. At both sidesof an outer circumferential surface of the center body 1, there areformed guide grooves 12 for guiding each of the left and right bodies 2and 2′. A spring guide hole 13 is formed at an upper side of the guidegroove 12, and a spring 3 connected with the left and right bodies 2 and2′ is disposed in the spring guide hole 13.

[0007] At a lower surface of the center body 1, there are formed afirst, second and third protrusion 14, 14′, 14″. The second and thirdprotrusions 14′ and 14″ respectively have a side parallel to an inletgroove 21, 21′. At a lower center side between the second protrusion 14′and the third protrusion 14″, there is provided the first protrusion 14.Further, at the lower surface of the center body 1, there are formed apair of block guide grooves 17 and 17′ formed at an outside of theprotrusions 14, 14′ and 14″ in a circumferential direction.

[0008] Meanwhile, the left and right body 2, 2′ is provided with aprotruded guide 22, 22′ coupled to the guide groove 12. At an upper sideof the protruded guide 22, 22′, there is provided a spring connectinghole 24, 24′ in which the spring 3 is inserted. At a lower side of theprotruded guide 22, 22′, there is form the inlet groove 21, 21′ forguiding the external foreign substance to the inlet port 11 of thecenter body 1. And at the lower side of the protruded guide 22, 22′,there is disposed a block 23, 23′ for preventing loss of suction forcebetween the center body 1 and the left and right body 2, 2′.

[0009] And block guides 25, 25′ are formed on an upper surface of theblock 23, 23′. The block guides 25, 25′ are coupled to a block guidegroove 17, 17′ formed in the lower surface of the center body 1. Herein,the block guide grooves 17 and 17′ respectively have a differentdiameter with respect to a center axis of the center body 1. Thus, theblocks 23 and 23′ of the left and right bodies 2 and 2′ can be smoothlyrotated without any contact with each other.

[0010] Furthermore, the spring 3 is a torsion spring. One end of thespring 3 is fixed to the center body 1, and the other end is insertedinto the spring connecting hole 24, 24′ of the left and right body 2,2′. For example, in case the left and right body 2, 2′ is rotated byfurniture or a wall in a room, the spring 3 functions to provide arestoring force.

[0011] The conventional brush of the vacuum cleaner can be coupled tothe inlet pipe of the vacuum cleaner using a connector (not shown) whichis proper to a shape of the center body 1. For example, when cleaning acorner of the room, which has an angle of 90°, using the foldaway brushcoupled to the vacuum cleaner, the brush can be moved forward as shownin FIG. 4. Then, the left and right bodies 2, 2′ are rotated with thecenter body in the center by an external force. Thus, the inlet port 11of the center body 1 approaches the corner between a bottom 51 and awall 44. At this time, the foreign substance is sucked in an arrowdirection. When the brush is moved backward after completion of thecleaning operation at a desired portion of the room, the external forceapplied to the left and right bodies 2, 2′ is removed. Therefore, theleft and right bodies 2, 2′ are returned to the original position by therestoring force of the spring 3.

[0012] As described above, the conventional foldaway brush for thevacuum cleaner has an advantage that is capable of cleaning the cornerof the room. However, since a length of the left and right body islimited, the cleaning operation can be performed at only a comparativenarrow area. Therefore, there is an inconvenience that the user has torepeatedly move the brush when performing the cleaning operation.Further, in the conventional foldaway brush for the vacuum cleaner, dueto its structure that the spring is disposed to be exposed to the inletport through which the foreign substance is sucked, the foreignsubstance may be held between the spring 3 and the spring guide hole 13,thereby causing an operation defect. Further, it is difficult to removethe foreign substance from the spring.

SUMMARY

[0013] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide aninlet unit of a vacuum cleaner, in which a suction area can be facilelyexpanded and contracted according to an included angle or a surface areaof a corner of a room, thereby easily performing a cleaning operation.

[0014] It is another object of the present invention to provide an inletunit of a vacuum cleaner, in which a rotation of a left and right bodycan be smoothly rotated with a center body in the center, particularly,which can prevent many problems that may be generated by sucked foreignsubstance held or fixed therein.

[0015] To achieve an object of the present invention, there is providedan inlet unit of a vacuum cleaner, comprising an inlet body having adust inlet port and removably coupled to an inlet pipe of the vacuumcleaner; and an auxiliary inlet body coupled extendably and contractiblyto the inlet body so as to variably cope with a corner having a desiredangle, and having an auxiliary inlet port communicated with the dustinlet port in an extending and contracting direction.

[0016] Preferably, the auxiliary inlet body comprises a pair ofrotational brushes rotatably coupled to the dust inlet port of the inletbody, and an extension brush that is extendable and contractible in alength direction of the rotational brush, and the auxiliary inlet portis formed along both bottom surfaces of the rotational brush and theextension brush in a length direction thereof.

[0017] Further, the inlet body comprises a center body formed with adust inlet port that is opened downwardly and a dust outlet portdirected to the inlet pipe and having a hinge rib extended downwardlyfrom the dust inlet port so as to allow the rotational brush to berotated left and right, and a main casing in which the center body andthe inlet pipe are disposed, for rotatably supporting the rotationalbrush.

[0018] Preferably, the main casing comprises a center portion having anair path between a body mounting portion in which the center body ismounted and a pipe coupling portion communicated with the inlet pipe;and a pair of wing portions respectively extended from the centerportion to both sides and respectively having a rotation guiding portionfor guiding a rotation of the rotational brush.

[0019] Preferably, the inlet unit further comprises an elastic memberfor returning the rotational brush to an original position.

[0020] Further, the rotational brush comprises a hinge portion rotatablycoupled to the hinge rib of the center body, and a rotational body inwhich the extension brush is extendably and contractibly received andthe auxiliary inlet port is protruded on a bottom surface thereof andwhich is rotated with the hinge portion in a center.

[0021] Therefore, a suction area of the inlet unit can be facilelyexpanded and contracted according to an included angle or a surface areaof a corner of a room, thereby easily performing a cleaning operation.Further, since a rotation of a left and right body can be smoothlyrotated with a center body in the center, and particularly, the suckedforeign substance is not held with or fixed to the inlet portion, anoperation detect is remarkably reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The above objects and other advantages of the present inventionwill become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodimentsthereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

[0023]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional inlet unit;

[0024]FIG. 2 is a lower view of FIG. 1;

[0025]FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a center body of FIG. 1;

[0026]FIG. 4 is a view showing an operation of the conventional inletunit;

[0027]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner with an inletunit according to the present invention;

[0028]FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 5, showing theinlet unit according to the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 6;

[0030]FIG. 8 is a lower perspective view of FIG. 7;

[0031]FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 8, showinga center body, an auxiliary inlet body and a hinge cover;

[0032]FIG. 10 is an assembled perspective view of FIG. 9;

[0033]FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view showing a coupled state ofthe auxiliary inlet body of FIG. 7;

[0034]FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line I-I of FIG.11;

[0035]FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line II-II of FIG.11; and

[0036]FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing an operation of the inletunit in a status that an upper cover is removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0037] Now, a height adjusting apparatus for a suction brush of anupright vacuum cleaner according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention will be described in detail with reference to theannexed drawings.

[0038]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner with an inletunit according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a vacuumcleaner 100 is comprised of a cleaner body 101 in which a vacuumgenerating unit (not shown) is mounted, an inlet pipe assembly 102coupled to the cleaner body 101 and an inlet unit 110 coupled to theinlet pipe assembly 102 so as to suck foreign substance from an outside.The inlet pipe assembly 102 comprises a flexible pipe 104 coupled to aninlet port 106 of the cleaner body 101, an inlet pipe 105 coupled to arear portion of the inlet unit 110 and an handle pipe 105 interposedbetween the flexible pipe 104 and the inlet pipe 105.

[0039]FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 5, showing theinlet unit according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an explodedperspective view of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a lower perspective view ofFIG. 7. The inlet unit 110 includes an inlet main body 120 coupled tothe inlet pipe 105 of the vacuum cleaner 100, and an auxiliary inletbody 150 which is expandable/contractible and simultaneously rotatablewith respect to the inlet main body 120. The inlet main body 120 isconnected via a first connecting pipe 116 and a second connecting pipe117 to the inlet pipe 105. The first and second connecting pipes 116 and117 are connected with each other so as to be relatively rotated.

[0040] The inlet main body 120 is provided with a main casing 121 and acenter body 141 disposed in the main casing 121. As shown in FIGS. 9 and10, the center body 141 is provided with a hinge rib 143 forming arotational shaft of the auxiliary inlet body 150, and a dust outlet port142 opened in a rear direction thereof. The hinge rib 143 is formed witha dust inlet port 146 opened downwardly. An air passing portion 145 isformed at an outer surface of the hinge rib 143.

[0041] The main casing 121 is comprised of a lower case 123 and an uppercover 122. The lower case 123 is formed with a center portion 131 inwhich the center body 141 is disposed, and a pair of wing portions 124and 124′ that are extended from both sides of the center portion 131. Inthe center portion 131, there is formed an air path 134 in a front-reardirection. At a front end of the air path 134, there is formed a bodymounting portion 132 in which the center body 141 is disposed, and at arear end thereof, there is formed a pipe coupling portion 133 in whichthe second connecting pipe 117 is coupled. Therefore, the foreignsubstance discharged to the dust outlet portion 142 of the center body141 is flowed along the air path 134, and then introduced through thesecond connecting pipe 117 into the inlet pipe 105.

[0042] Inclined surfaces 126, 126′ that are inclined at a desired anglein a rear direction are formed at the wing portion 124, 124′ of thelower case 123. At a center area of a bottom surface of the wing portion124, 124′, there are formed a guide groove 125, 125′ forming an arc withthe hinge rib 143 of the center body 141 in the center. Guideprotrusions 166, 166′ protruded upward on a rotational brush 161, 161′of the auxiliary inlet body 150 are received in the guide groove 125,125′. The guide protrusions 166, 166′ guide a rotation of the rotationalbrush 161, 161′, while moving along the guide groove 125, 125′. At thistime, the inclined surfaces 126, 126′ function to restrict an excessiverotation of the rotational brush 161, 161′, when the rotational brushes161, 161 ′ are contacted with, for example, a wall of a room orfurniture, etc.

[0043] Spring protrusions 127, 127′ are formed on the bottom surface ofthe wing portion 124, 124′ of the lower case 123 to be protruded upward.Preferably, the spring protrusions 127, 127′ are formed between theguide groove 125, 125′ and the hinge rib 143. Torsion springs 135, 135′are inserted onto the spring protrusion 127, 127′. Each of the torsionsprings 135, 135′ is fixed to the wing portion 124, 124′ at one end,while fixed by the other end to each guide protrusion 166, 166′ formedon the rotational brushes 161, 161′. Therefore, the rotational brushes161, 161′ rotatably supported by the wing portion 124, 124′ can bereturned to an original position thereof by an elastic force of thetorsion spring 135, 135′, as described below.

[0044]FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view showing a coupled state ofthe auxiliary inlet body of FIG. 7, and FIG. 12 is a cross-sectionalview taken along a line I-I of FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 is a cross-sectionalview taken along a line II-II of FIG. 11. The auxiliary inlet body 150is provided with a pair of rotational brush 161, 161′ and a pair ofextension brush 171, 171′ that is extendably and contractibly receivedin the rotational brush 161, 161′. In the drawings, only the rotationalbrush 161 and the extension brush 171 are shown, and hereinafter, itwill be described centering on them

[0045] The rotational brush 161 is comprised of a hinge portion 163coupled to the hinge rib 143 of the center body 141, and a rotationalbody 162 extended from the hinge portion 163 in a radial direction. Therotational body 162 is in the form of a rectangular box, and has anopening 167 at an end opposite to the hinge portion 163. In a bottomsurface of the rotational body 162, there is formed an auxiliary inletport 168 that is protruded upward. The auxiliary inlet port 168 isextended along a length of the rotational body 162, and one end of theauxiliary inlet port 168 is communicated with the dust inlet port 146 ofthe center body 141. The guide protrusion 166 (referring to FIG. 7) isprotruded upward on an upper surface of the rotational body 162 so as tobe inserted into guide groove 125 formed in the wing portion 124 of themain casing 121.

[0046] Meanwhile, the hinge portion 163 is in the form of a ring, androtatably coupled to an outer surface of the hinge rib 143. The hingeportion 163 is formed at an upper portion of an end of the rotationalbody 162 so as to have a thickness corresponding to the half of a heightof the rotational body 162. And the hinge portion 163′ of anotherrotational brush 161′ is formed at a lower portion of an end of thecorresponding rotational body 162′. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, thehinge portions 163 and 163′ are overlapped on the outer surface of thehinge rib 143.

[0047] In addition, the hinge portion 163′ of the rotational brush 161′,which is disposed at a lower side of the other hinge portion 163, isformed with a dust passing portion 165 on an outer surface thereof. Thedust passing portion 165 serves to communicate the auxiliary inlet port168 of the rotational brush 161 with the dust inlet port 146 of thecenter body 141.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 10, the hinge portions 163, 163′, which areoverlapped with each other on the outer surface of the hinge rib 143 ofthe center body 141, are supported by a hinge cover 181 coupled to thehinge rib 143 at a lower side thereof. A hook 182 is formed at an upperend of the hinge cover 181, and a hook slot 144 in which the hook 182 iscoupled is formed at the hinge rib 143. And since an air passing portion185 is also formed at an outer surface of the hinge cover 181, theauxiliary inlet port 168, 168′ and the dust inlet port 146 arecommunicated with each other.

[0049] Meanwhile, the extension brush 171 is also in the form of arectangular box, and received in the opening 167 of the rotational brush161. In a bottom surface of the extension brush 171, there is also anauxiliary inlet port 178. The auxiliary inlet port 168 of the rotationalbrush 161 32 is engaged with the auxiliary inlet port 178 of theextension brush 171. Therefore, the extension brush 171 can be slid inthe length direction of the rotational brush 161 to be extended orcontracted. The auxiliary inlet port 178 of the extension brush 171 isdirectly communicated with the dust inlet port 146 of the center body141 in a contracted state, and communicated through the auxiliary inletport 168 of the rotational brush 161 with the dust inlet port 146 in anextended state.

[0050] A latching rib 177 that is protruded to the outside is formed atan outer end of the extension brush 171. The latching rib 177 iscontacted with an open surface of the rotational brush 161, when theextension brush 171 is contracted in the rotational brush 161.Therefore, it is prevented that the extension brush 171 is excessivelycontracted.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 11, the extension brush 171 can be fixed to adesired position with respect to the rotational brush 161 by a leafspring 191 and a plurality of latching jaws 192. The leaf spring 191 isfixed to a spring groove 193 formed in an outer surface of the extensionbrush 171. The plurality of latching jaws 192 are formed to be protrudedinward along the length of the rotational brush 161. The leaf spring 191is engaged with the latching jaws 192 of the rotational brush 161, whenthe extension brush 171 is extended or contracted. Herein, the leafspring 191 may be provided at the rotational brush 161, and the latchingjaws 192 may be provide at the extension brush 171.

[0052] On the upper surface of the extension brush 171, there is formeda moving protrusion 196, and on the upper surface of the rotationalbrush 161, there is formed a moving guide 195 in the length direction ofthe rotational brush 161. The moving protrusion 196 is received in themoving guide 195 and moved in the length direction of the rotationalbrush 161. Thus, the extension brush 171 can be smoothly slid to beextended or contracted with respect to the rotational brush 161. Herein,the moving protrusion 196 may be provided on the rotational brush 161,and the moving guide 195 may be formed on the extension brush 171.

[0053] In order to assemble the inlet unit 110 as described above,firstly, the center body 141 is disposed at the lower case 123 of themain casing 121. Then, the hinge portions 163 and 163′ formed at therotational brushes 161 and 161′ are coupled to the hinge rib 143 of thecenter body 141 in a status that the hinge portions 163 and 163′ areoverlapped with each other. At this time, if an external force isapplied upward from a lower side of the hinge portion 163, 163′, theguide protrusion 166, 166′ formed on the rotational brush 161, 161′ canbe received in the guide groove 125, 125′ formed at the wing portion124, 124′ of the lower case 123.

[0054] In this situation, the hinge cover 181 is coupled to the hingerib 143 of the center body 141. Then, the rotational brushes 161, 161′are supported by the hinge cover 181 and the wing portion 124, 124′ ofthe lower case 123 so as to be rotatable in a left or right directionwith the hinge rib 143 in the center. The torsion springs 135, 135′ arecoupled to the spring protrusion 127, 127′ of the lower case 123, andthen, both ends of the torsion spring 135, 135′ are respectively fixedto the bottom surface of the lower case 123 and the guide protrusion166, 166′ of the rotational brush 161, 161′. At this time, bothrotational brushes 161 and 161′ are disposed to be opposite to eachother with the hinge rib 143 in the center by the elastic restoringforce of the torsion spring 135, 135′.

[0055] Then, the extension brushes 171, 171′ are coupled to therotational brush 161, 161′. And at the same time or at another time, thesecond connecting pipe 117 connected with the first connecting pipe 116is coupled to the pipe coupling portion 133 of the lower case 123. Ifthe upper cover 122 is coupled to an upper portion of the lower case123, the assembling process of the inlet unit 110 is completed.

[0056] In this situation, the first connecting pipe 116 can be coupledto the inlet pipe 105 of the vacuum cleaner 100. Then, the vacuumcleaner is turned on, and as shown in FIG. 14, the corner of the roomcan be cleaned. That is, if the inlet unit 110 is pressed forward in astatus that is disposed to be adjacent to both sidewalls 55, therotational brushes 161, 161′ are rotated by the walls 55. The extensionbrushes 171, 171′ received in the rotational brushes 161, 161′ can beproperly extended so as to increase a cleaning area.

[0057] Meanwhile, the rotational brushes 161, 161′ that are rotated withthe hinge rib 143 of the center body 141 in the center are rotated nolonger, when being contacted with a corner of both walls 55. Then, ifthe external force applied to the rotational brushes 161, 161′, therotational brushes 161, 161 ′ are returned to the original position bythe elastic force of the torsion spring.

[0058] While the present invention has been described in detail, itshould be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterationscan be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An inlet unit of a vacuum cleaner, comprising: aninlet body having a dust inlet port and removably coupled to an inletpipe of the vacuum cleaner; and an auxiliary inlet body coupledextendably and contractibly to the inlet body so as to variably copewith a corner having a desired angle, and having an auxiliary inlet portcommunicated with the dust inlet port in an extending and contractingdirection.
 2. The inlet unit of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary inletbody comprises a pair of rotational brushes rotatably coupled to thedust inlet port of the inlet body, and an extension brush that isextendable and contractible in a length direction of the rotationalbrush, and the auxiliary inlet port is formed along both bottom surfacesof the rotational brush of the extension brush in a length directionthereof.
 3. The inlet unit of claim 2, wherein the inlet body comprisesa center body formed with a dust inlet port that is opened downwardlyand a dust outlet port directed to the inlet pipe and having a hinge ribextended downwardly from the dust inlet port so as to allow therotational brush to be rotated left and right, and a main casing inwhich the center body and the inlet pipe are disposed, for rotatablysupporting the rotational brush.
 4. The inlet unit of claim 3, furthercomprising a first connecting pipe coupled to the inlet pipe, and asecond connecting pipe coupled to the main casing and also connectedwith the first connecting pipe to be relatively rotated.
 5. The inletunit of claim 3, wherein the main casing comprises a center portionhaving an air path between a body mounting portion in which the centerbody is mounted and a pipe coupling portion communicated with the inletpipe; and a pair of wing portions respectively extended from the centerportion to both sides and respectively having a rotation guiding portionfor guiding a rotation of the rotational brush.
 6. The inlet unit ofclaim 5, wherein the rotation guiding portion comprises a guide grooveforming an arc at each wing portion with the hinge rib of the centerbody in a center, and a guide protrusion protruded from the rotationalbrush to be received in the guide groove.
 7. The inlet unit of claim 5,further comprising an elastic member for returning the rotational brushto an original position.
 8. The inlet unit of claim 3, wherein therotational brush comprises a hinge portion rotatably coupled to thehinge rib of the center body, and a rotational body in which theextension brush is extendably and contractibly received and theauxiliary inlet port is protruded on a bottom surface thereof and whichis rotated with the hinge portion in a center.
 9. The inlet unit ofclaim 8, further comprising a hinge cover coupled to the hinge rib ofthe center body in which the pair of rotational brushes are coupled,wherein an air passing portion is formed at an outer surface of each ofthe hinge rib, the hinge cover, the hinge portion and the rotationalbody.
 10. The inlet unit of claim 2, further comprising a leaf springdisposed at one of contacting surfaces of the extension brush and therotational brush, and a plurality of latching jaws provided at the othercontacting surface in a length direction, for fixing the leaf spring.11. The inlet unit of claim 2, further comprising a moving guide formedat one of the contracting surfaces of the extension brush and therotational brush, and a moving protrusion formed at the other contactingsurface to be movable along the moving guide.